Seal-padlock



(No Model.)

N.0.P0ND. l Y SEAL PADLOGK.

No. 569,387.v Patented Oct. 13, i896.

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New/7m 62072617/ NiTnD STATES PATENT Trice.

NATHAN C. POND, OF PORT CHESTER, NEIV YORK.

sEAL-PAoLocK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 569,387', dated October 18, 1896.

Application tiled March 3, 1896. Serial No. 581,651. tNo model.)

Beit known that I, NATHAN C. POND, a citizen of the United States, residing at Port Chester, in the count-yet lVestchester and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Seal-Locks; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in Which- Figure I represents in front view a seallock according to my invention. Fig. II is an edgewise view of the seal, showing also the adjacent parts in horizontal sections at the line .1: ot' Fig. I when the lock is sealed. Fig. III is an edgewise view of the seal with its lluke normally extended. Fig. IV is a face view of the seal with the adjacent parts of the lock shown in vertical section when the lock is sealed.

The object of this invention is to provide ready means for sealing the locks of freightcars and other similar vehicles so that they cannot be unlocked in transit Without the fact being quickly discovered by the next inspector through whose hands the car passes.

To this end my invention consists in the construction and combination of parts forming a seal-lock hereinafter described and claimed.

represents the body portion of the lock, and (i the shackle hinged to the body at 7 and provided with a tenen 8, adapted to enter the body until the shoulder 9 comes close against the body, the body being bored, forming a socket to receive the tenen.

10 represents the hasp of a ear-door, and 11 the staple over which the hasp is placed when the door is closed.` Through this staple the lock is to be placed, and being in the form of a ring the lock may hang by either the body 5, as now shown, or by the shackle 6, passed through the staple.

12 is the seal, made of thin sheet nieta-l of suitable Width and length to receive the desired inscription, and having a tongue 13 projecting beyond the shoulder 1d. The body portion 5 has an aperture 15 entering the socket at one side, which aperture is just Wide enough to receive the tongue 13 and is a little more than twice as thick as the metal of the tongue.

The tenon S has an aperture 16 passing through it to register with the aperture 15 when the lock is closed. The tongue 13 of the seal is bent back upon itself, forming a fluke 17, which is to anchor the seal in the lock. The sheet metal selected for these seals may be tin, thin sheet-iron, brass, or any other material having a little elasticity and not being difficult to break at a few times bending to and fro. The aperture 16 in the inner member of the lock, here shown as the shackle, is considerably thicker than the aperture 15, and the fluke 17 normally projects at an acute angle from one face of the seal.

18 represents an eye in the body 5, whereby a chain may be attached to secure the lock to the car.

The operation is as follows: The car-door being closed with the hasp 10 engaging the staple 11, either the body or the shackle end of the lock is to be passed through the staple outside of the hasp. Then the lock is to be closed, the tenon S enteringits full length to the shoulder 9 in the socket of the body. Then the folded tongue of the seal is to be pushed through the aperture 15 into the aperture 1C, by which operation the iiuke 17 will first be closed against the body of the seal while passing through the aperture 15 and then will spring open in the thicker aperture 1U, so that the hook or rear end 19 of the fluke will engage the inner side of the body 5 and prevent the removal of the seal, which in turn serves as a bolt to prevent the opening of the lock. Then it is desired to open the lock, the seal is to be bent to and fro until it breaks the tongue 13 at the shoulder 11. Then the broken-off tongue being free Within the lock the shackle 6 maybe drawn out from the body 5 and the refuse-tongue Will drop therefrom. W'hile the shoulder 14 is some slight aid in locating the breaking point of the seal close to the side of the lock, yet it is not an essential to this invention. A principal reason for the body of the seal being wider than its tongue is to provide suflicient surface for the stamping of letters or other desired inarksindicating where the car was sealed.

As a matter of security against the second using of the seal the letters stamped thereon may cover the whole tag or body portion of IOO the `seal so completely that a new tongue could not be cut on the body by any designing person without injury to the lettering,

which would be at once evident on inspec! tion. If this seal were provided with two ukes in the place of the one fluke 17, one fluke to be bent away from the opposite face of the seal, the entering space of either iiuke in the aperture l5 would permit a picklockhook to be inserted that could be drawn behind the other iiuke to close it sufficiently so that it might be withdrawn, and after robbing the car the operator mightclose the lock and return the seal to place without leaving any evidence for the inspector of locks to discover the theft, and if the tongue passed entirely through the body or socket portion it would require an extremely nice iit of the parts to prevent the insertion of a thin blade at the opposite side capable of closing the fluke and freeing the seal; but my single iiuke ext-ending the whole Width of the tongue and without anopposite opening in the socket avoids such means of picking the lock.

As either of the portions 5 or 6 Will serve as a shackle to enter the staple l1, it is evident that'the other portion would serve the present purposeif it were inadein other forms than the half-circle shown. I therefore do not limit myself to the exact form of either the shackle or the body portion here shown.

Having thus described my invention, what I believe to be new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the following:

In seal-locks, the combination of a body and a shackle portion hinged together at one side, one'of the said portions being provided 

